10 Worst TV Show Couples That Never Worked for Fans

The worst TV show couples include Joey and Rachel in Friends, Archie and Veronica in Riverdale, Aria and Ezra in Pretty Little Liars, George and Izzie in Grey’s Anatomy and Dan and Blair in Gossip Girl. Most failed because the chemistry was missing, the writing felt forced or the relationship was unhealthy.

Every long-running show reaches a point where writers need fresh drama, and pairing two characters is the easiest way to get it. Sometimes it works. These 10 pairings, though, left many fans wishing the writers had left things alone.

Quick look: the worst TV show couples

Couple	Show	Main problem
Joey and Rachel	Friends	Felt like siblings
Archie and Veronica	Riverdale	Little trust or communication
Jason and Tahani	The Good Place	No real connection
Aria and Ezra	Pretty Little Liars	Teacher and student
George and Izzie	Grey’s Anatomy	Ruined a great friendship
Caroline and Stefan	The Vampire Diaries	A pairing by default
Dan and Blair	Gossip Girl	Better as friends
Mal and Alina	Shadow and Bone	Overshadowed by the Darkling
Amy and Teddy	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Zero chemistry
Jessica and Justin	13 Reasons Why	Built on a betrayal

1. Joey and Rachel (Friends)

Joey, played by Matt LeBlanc, develops feelings for Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston, in season 8 of Friends, around the time she is pregnant. In season 9 she starts to feel the same, and with Ross’s reluctant blessing they try dating.

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It does not last. When they try to take the relationship further, they realise they are too close as friends, and they go back to being just that. For many viewers, the pair had always felt like brother and sister, so the romance looked forced from the start.

2. Archie and Veronica (Riverdale)

Riverdale ran on The CW for seven seasons, from 2017 to 2023, with KJ Apa as Archie and Camila Mendes as Veronica. Their relationship often seemed to revolve around Archie trying to win over Veronica’s father, Hiram Lodge.

Trust and honest communication were rarely part of the picture.

3. Jason and Tahani (The Good Place)

Tahani is elegant and polished, and Jason is famously clueless. The show paired them early on, while Jason was pretending to be a silent Buddhist monk.

Once Jason started talking, the gap between them was too wide. The pairing worked better as a joke than as a romance.

4. Aria and Ezra (Pretty Little Liars)

This is the pairing that drew the most criticism. Ezra is Aria’s teacher, and their relationship begins when she is 16. Many viewers and critics have called it inappropriate and illegal in real life, regardless of how the show framed it.

Aria also often ignored her friends’ concerns about Ezra, which made the storyline even harder to root for.

5. George and Izzie (Grey’s Anatomy)

George and Izzie had one of the warmest friendships on Grey’s Anatomy. Turning it into a romance broke that bond.

The affair brought out the worst in both characters, and their friendship never fully recovered.

6. Caroline and Stefan (The Vampire Diaries)

Caroline and Stefan worked well as friends. When the show pushed them together, and to many fans it seemed the show picked Stefan for Caroline simply because he was available.

The pairing lacked the spark that made other couples on the show popular, and it felt more like a plot tool than a love story.

7. Dan and Blair (Gossip Girl)

Dan and Blair share intellectual interests, and they had a fun, sparring friendship. Their brief romance in a later season, though, seemed mainly designed to keep Blair away from Chuck for a while.

Fans largely agreed they were better as best friends.

8. Mal and Alina (Shadow and Bone)

Shadow and Bone ran for two seasons on Netflix, from 2021 to 2023, with Jessie Mei Li as Alina and Archie Renaux as Mal. Netflix cancelled it in November 2023.

Many viewers felt Mal and Alina had a sibling-like vibe that never went away. Alina’s tension with the Darkling, played by Ben Barnes, often overshadowed her scenes with Mal.

9. Amy and Teddy (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Teddy dated Amy for a stretch of the show. The show used him mostly as a running gag, including his repeated attempts at proposing.

The two had almost no chemistry, which was partly the point, and it made Amy and Jake look even better.

10. Jessica and Justin (13 Reasons Why)

The show handles a sexual assault storyline in which Justin fails to stop his best friend from attacking Jessica and then hides the truth from her. That betrayal sits at the centre of their relationship.

For many viewers, the history between them was too painful for the pairing to feel right, however the show tried to frame it.

Why some TV couples fail

• No chemistry: Two actors can be great on their own and still not click on screen.
• Forced writing: Pairings created for drama, or to delay a more popular couple, rarely feel real.
• Unhealthy behaviour: Viewers are now quicker to call out power imbalances and betrayal.
• Lost friendships: Turning a loved friendship into romance can damage both characters.

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Further reading: Jake and Amy, Monica and Chandler, Grace and Thomas.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Joey Tribbiani, Wikipedia; Riverdale, Wikipedia; Shadow and Bone, Wikipedia.